Lord of the Dance

THE 'ROOM AT THE TOP' is at the Central School of Ballet in London’s historic Clerkenwell. Here, elite students go through their paces in an attic room illuminated all round by 17 windows, flooding the room with natural light. It was a source of fascination and enchantment for Tony McGee, one of Britain’s leading fashion and beauty photographers, who already had a binding passion for dance and movement. His own studio was at one time in the building opposite the Central School of Ballet. The result was a project situated in this very room, the atelier where dreams are rewarded and hopes realised - or shattered - under the strict regime that only the very talented can survive.

Many artists and photographers have been beguiled by the visual beauty and physical grace of the dance. The painter Degas, who frequently worked from photographic reference, is perhaps the most famous devotee of the ballet. But Tony McGee has brought a very special eye to subject, one honed for over 30 years in the arcane world of fashion photography at the highest levels. And despite ballet having being exhaustively used as a source for images of all genres, McGee imbues the 125 images here with a quiet beauty, underscored by the power and energy constrained within the bodies of what are - after all - accomplished athletes.

In large format, with outstanding reproductions- some across two pages - all taken with a Leica or Rolleiflex loaded with Tri-X film, McGee captures all the moods and currents of the dancers craft. The serenity of the girls focussing on an immediate exercise, the dynamic energy of the boys and the sheer physical strength they require for the work - McGee’s unobtrusive lens records it all.

The result? An inspirational tribute to the most difficult of all the performing arts - the classical ballet.